The Pretend Boyfriend

Chapter 24

            I decided that even though I now knew Ashton was trying to make me jealous, I wouldn’t be affected by it. I was just going to keep on ignoring him and pretend we never met.

            When I got home on Friday afternoon, there was a mysterious girl sitting in my living room. Both my parents were at work and I wasn’t sure if Tony was home.

            “Who are you?” I asked, dropping my bag on the floor and sitting on the couch opposite her. My dog, Buddy, was sitting on the floor, so I leaned over to pat him. Lazy dog; all he did was sleep.

            “I’m Abigail,” she introduced herself with a smile.

            “Ahh, so you’re Tony’s girlfriend,” I said, realizing she was the coffee shop girl. She had long, dark brown hair and light hazel eyes. She was quite pretty and she seemed nice from her huge smile.

            “Well, we’re just friends for now,” she blushed.

            “Friends who go on dates,” I grinned, getting up and walking into the kitchen. “So is Tony here or…?”

            “Yeah, he’s upstairs,” Abigail followed me into the kitchen just as Tony came running in.

            “Hi Evelyn,” he nearly shouted when he saw me and I flinched at the loudness.

            “There’s this thing called an inside voice, Tony,” I told him slowly like he was a child, but he just laughed.

            “I see you’ve met Abby,” he smiled at his ‘friend’ who was across the room from him.

            “Yep,” I replied, grabbing an apple from the fruit basket on the table. “So Abigail, do you go to school around here?”

            “Actually I’m not going to university this year. My mom is sick, so I decided to stay home to spend more time with her,” she told me, walking over to stand next to Tony.

            “I’m sorry to hear that,” I responded, taking a bite of the apple.

            “You’re supposed to wash apples before you eat them,” Tony grinned at me, but I ignored him. I wasn’t going to die from eating an unwashed apple.

            “Well, we’re going bowling, you’re welcome to join us if you want,” Tony told me, wrapping his arm around Abigail’s waist.

            “Sorry, I have a date with an English essay tonight,” I joked, taking my apple with my as I left the room to go and retrieve my schoolbag.

            “It was nice meeting you,” Abigail called after me.

            “Wait, so then she apologized to you?” Lee asked incredulously from the other side of the phone.

            “Yeah, it was really weird. I guess even Brooke isn’t so horrible,” I shrugged, even though she couldn’t see me. I was home alone so I decided to call Lee and tell her about my eventful day at school.

            “That’s like saying the devil isn’t so bad,” Lee laughed.

            Even though Brooke and I shared an okay moment today, it didn’t make up for all the times she had bullied me. But I guess some people just have to put down others to make themselves feel better.

            “So are you excited for your birthday?” Lee asked. Her question threw me off-guard. I didn’t even know my birthday was coming up.